I thought it was possible to push unadulterated .tivo files back to the DVR.

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It's not. You can pull them (i.e., originate the transfer from the TiVo). But to push them (originate the transfer from the web interface), they first have to be decrypted, to plain MPEG files. Normally, pyTivo will do this automatically, if tivodecode is available; but it's a process that can fail. One likely failure mode would be if they're transport-stream .TiVo files, which tivodecode can't always handle.

A few minutes later: I see that one show is in the process of downloading. Other shows in the transfer queue errored out and show up at as 10MB invalid file, using kmttg.

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I'm not really following what you're saying here.

A half hour later: I see that pyTivo says that one minute of the show has copied. One minute per half hour?? Is this typical?

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Not at all. But also, I'm not sure where you'd be seeing a message like that in pyTivo.

It's not. You can pull them (i.e., originate the transfer from the TiVo). But to push them (originate the transfer from the web interface), they first have to be decrypted, to plain MPEG files. Normally, pyTivo will do this automatically, if tivodecode is available; but it's a process that can fail. One likely failure mode would be if they're transport-stream .TiVo files, which tivodecode can't always handle.

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Hmm, in another thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=9862672#post9862672), you implied that my problems with sending files back to the DVR, where the captions were being stripped, could be cured by pulling the files as transport streams, which is what I did using kmttg. Now I'm trying to push them back, and there were plenty of error popups from tivodecode, I'm not sure which files these errors were associated with (from the list of files to push).

So you are saying that no matter what I do, .tivo files can't be pushed.

I'm not really following what you're saying here.

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When I saw the flurry of error messages from trying to process the push list, I started up kmttg to get a look at what the DVR had from these failed attempts. The Tivo had 1 file in process of download, and half a dozen other files that were 10MB in size, flagged as invalid files.

Not at all. But also, I'm not sure where you'd be seeing a message like that in pyTivo.

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In the pyTivo push page (in the browser), in the line entry for the 1 file that was downloading, at the right side of the line, there is an incrementing time, ala 00:08:25, that I assume is the amount of the file transfered.

So, it comes down to: is there any way to pull a show from the DVR, and then push it back, without having captions stripped?

If I decrypt the .tivo file to .mpg, how do I extract the caption data, as I assume that I'd have to use another utility to burn the captions into the video before pushing back to the Tivo.

So you are saying that no matter what I do, .tivo files can't be pushed.

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Not intact, that's right. But you don't need to push them. Go to the TiVo. Go to the bottom of the "My Shows" list. You should see a pyTivo sharename there. Download the file to the TiVo from there. That's the only way you're going to get captions transferred (short of reencoding it with open captions burned in).

In the pyTivo push page (in the browser), in the line entry for the 1 file that was downloading, at the right side of the line, there is an incrementing time, ala 00:08:25, that I assume is the amount of the file transfered.

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I'm still not clear what you're talking about here, but nowhere does pyTivo count portions of transfers that way. The push page doesn't even show ongoing transfers. The ToGo page does, but it only shows the amount transferred in bytes, and the the rate in Mb/s.

I seem to be quite confused about kmttg and pyTivo, and how they work. The help info for those apps is unclear to a noob like me. The page in pyTivo I was referring to earlier was actually the 'pull' page; I have no idea why I failed to notice this, and confused it with the 'push' page. I never attempted a pull in pyTivo, so just assumed the "activity" was my push action.

Well, I finally got a show copied by using the DVR My Shows list, which didn't have the last item as a reference to the PC name; rather it had an entry called 'My Movies', which listed the shows on the PC. The one-hour long show only took somewhere around 20~24 hours to transfer (I didn't pay close attention). What dismal performance. Is that typical?

That .tivo show I copied back to the DVR played OK, but was missing the captions; why am I not surprised. Can you suggest a utility that I can use to burn in captions on decrypted .tivo (mpg) files? How do I extract the caption data from the stream?

I never attempted a pull in pyTivo, so just assumed the "activity" was my push action.

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It doesn't start pulling by itself, so I'm still not clear what you're seeing.

Well, I finally got a show copied by using the DVR My Shows list, which didn't have the last item as a reference to the PC name; rather it had an entry called 'My Movies', which listed the shows on the PC.

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Yes, it uses whatever you define as the share name. The automatic use of the PC name is a TiVo Desktop thing, that pyTivo goes out of its way to avoid. Of course, you still have the choice to name your shares that way if you want to.

The one-hour long show only took somewhere around 20~24 hours to transfer (I didn't pay close attention). What dismal performance. Is that typical?

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Again, no, not at all.

What does the cmd window say while this is happening?

Can you suggest a utility that I can use to burn in captions on decrypted .tivo (mpg) files?

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Not really my area. Anyway, I'd rather fix your problems. I promise you, you can get captions with transport-stream .TiVo files.

Again, no, not at all.
What does the cmd window say while this is happening?

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The cmd window contains so much info that I haven't tried to analyze it. Basically, its rather inscrutable to someone who isn't familiar with what it should report.

... Anyway, I'd rather fix your problems. I promise you, you can get captions with transport-stream .TiVo files.

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I've got a dozen shows on a PC, pulled by kmttg, with the transport stream option checked. So I assume they're TS files, assuming the Roamio honors the TS request.

The main problem is why are the transfers back to the DVR going so slowly. What can I try or check to resolve that? I'm wondering if it might have been a conflict with the Desktop Plus server process that was unknowingly left running.

FYI, the reason I pulled the shows from the Tivo was to upgrade the HDD to a larger capacity; now I want to move them back to the new drive.

I pulled one show from the PC to the DVR as a test case (as mentioned above), and a day later, after the transfer completed, I started watching it. It had no captioning so I assumed they were stripped, but I got fooled: I later watched the same show that was also recorded by WMC on the PC, and it didn't have captions either. Actually, captions were missing on the first 9 minutes, and then showed up. But I couldn't recheck the transferred show, as it vanished from the Tivo when I exited pyTivo (or maybe that wasn't the reason it disappeared). So I have to retransfer a show to prove to myself that captions are (or aren't) included.

Sorry to be so windy and clueless. I've been putting off retrying this until I get some advice.

I restarted a transfer PC -> DVR about 10 hours ago. Looking at the show on the Tivo reveals that about 1/3 ha been copied. The show HAS captions, so that issue is gone. The cmd window seems to have a limited buffer, as the data from 10 hrs ago is not there.